PTS PROFESSOR RECEIVES VITAL WORSHIP GRANT TO EXPLORE BEING CHURCH AMID POST-CHRISTIAN REALITIES
The Rev. Dr. Edwin Chr. van Driel, Directors' Bicentennial Professor of Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, has received a Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Teacher-Scholar Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship to conduct research that builds on the work behind the Being Church in a Post-Christian World podcast that he launched with the Rev. Kendra Buckwalter Smith ’12/’13, director of the Seminary’s Worship Program, last year. This research is made possible through a Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Mich., with funds provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.
In the Being Church in a Post-Christian World podcast, co-hosts Dr. van Driel and Rev. Smith gathered stories from the Dutch church—often considered to be a generation or two ahead of North America in navigating post-Christian realities—to invite ministry leaders in the U.S. to explore what it means for the church to live faithfully in an age when Christianity is no longer at the cultural center. The Vital Preaching Teacher-Scholar Grant will support focused research into one of the phenomena discovered in the creation of the podcast: embracing the practice of Anglican Choral Evensong as a form of missional outreach to unchurched people. Rev. Smith and Dr. van Driel will travel to the UK and the Netherlands (two places in which this practice was noted in the Being Church podcast) to engage in these services firsthand, develop theological tools to interpret this practice, and write a proposal for a pilot program which would allow churches in the U.S. to experiment with similar practices in ways adapted to their own contexts.
“In a deeply secularized country, hundreds of people come to these very traditional services of song and prayer, and report that they have an encounter with the transcendent. We are really intrigued by how these deeply established Christian practices somehow have the power to reach rather unchurched people. What does this teach us about the ways we should think of the missional edge of the church?” says Dr. van Driel.
“At Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, we are committed to being at the forefront of both asking questions which prepare the church to live into its future and translating these theological reflections into practical applications for ministry,” says the Rev. Dr. Asa Lee, president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. “Professor van Driel is offering theological tools to help people of faith understand and respond faithfully to present realities and bringing leaders into conversation with one another as congregations around the world are asking these questions. This move of connecting with fellow pilgrims—both near and far—has been emphasized by our Christian tradition throughout its history as an essential step in navigating situations of all kinds. I’m thrilled to see Edwin and Kendra forging ahead in this tradition and opening pathways for others to do the same.”